Day 31: Robert Kral

I went into the studio today at 10am. Everyone was there including Randy who had next weeks episode to spot, so we did that first. This is another very different episode. Mike's been doing this so long that it looks like he's not even paying attention when he watches these things. He was sitting with his guitar playing music and barely looking at the screen. Don't be fooled though. He sees everything. So well in fact that he caught a massive error that no one else saw. All of a sudden he stops the video asking who screwed up and Randy didn't know what he was talking about. Turns out either a writer or someone messed up and one of the detectives had a line where they said information that the cops didn't know about yet because what they were saying hadn't yet happen in the episode! No one caught it. Not the writers, editors, actors; nobody. But Mike did, so they have a bit of work to do on this episode to fix this mistake. It was just so cool to see how tuned in he was. By the time the spotting session was over, I had to leave for my meeting with Robert, so no time for my review. It is definitely on for tomorrow, 10am where I will also get my picture taken for BMI. Then it was off to my meeting.

Robert and I were to meet up at Brew Co. for lunch in Manhattan Beach. On the way once again, my GPS took me past WB Studios so that felt cool.

 So I drove down there to discover it was right at the water (the word beach should have given it away). For those of you who ever watched the O.C. It's the place where they would film a bunch of scenes on the pier when they ate lunch at that fast food joint. Very pretty area.

Robert then met me and off the bat he's super nice. We sat down, ordered and first talked about Danny Lux because that's how I got referred to Robert. Robert told me how he got started. He actually applied to work for Mike Post when Chris Beck (one of Mike's most successful Pete Carpenters) stepped down to pursue his own career in music. Robert didn't get the job, but instead was picked up by Chris. He worked there for a while ghost writing for Buffy until Angel started. Ghost writing is actually very common and Robert tells me it's the perfect way to make good money and get your music on air without the pressure when you're starting out. The composer for Buffy was done with that series and wanted to start something new and gave Angel to Robert. That was his break. Since then he continuously picked up steam, did more shows and few films and finally landed at Warner Brothers doing childrens animated shows. Most recently he did the score to A Haunting in Connecticut. Turns out he has the same tastes in music as me. He loves huge orchestral music, sweeping themes and a big epic sound. It's what he brought to Angel. After hearing so many composers tell me that TV is all simple electronic music (which is a good piece of advice and I don't discount it) it's so good to hear a composer tell me that he has a career in film and TV doing the kind of music I write too.

Then we talked about me a little bit. He wanted to know my history and what software I use. He was happy to hear that I write orchestral music. He has this way of being so nice, knowing that I'm looking for work, and telling me what I need to hear. I told him that I plan on moving out here in July unless something comes my way sooner. He then told me that right now he has 2 assistants working with him on Scooby Doo and things really pick up on that show in August (one month after I move there. How convenient). He said he may need someone then, and that he has some projects in the wings right now and if one of those happens, he may find himself needing someone right away. So that's very encouraging news. He told me I should send him some .mp3s of my songs, and I told him I had a CD on my music already. He was actually happy that I didn't do the standard 30-45 seconds of each song on a demo CD and put entire music tracks on there. So it all went better than I had hoped. We parted ways after such a great talk about everything music related and he told me to keep in touch and to give him a call when I get back out here (if I don't hear from him first).

So I came home tired, but with a smile on my face and a contact that may get me somewhere. I'm loving it. Now at 11pm my time I'm allowed to post sample cues from my SVU episodes because that's when the latest episode airs so I won't be breaking any laws having them on my blog before that. So check back if you're interested. I have samples from all 3 episodes that I did, as well as the techno scene that I promised.